Boat Show makes history at SCEC

History has been made at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the annual Sydney International Boat Show providing the backdrop for a provisional world record of 415 lifejackets inflated at once in one location.

Designed to highlight the need for water safety, the group inflation formed part of the five-day boat show, which ran from July 29 – August 2.

The previous record was set in North America earlier this year when 86 people in Columbus Ohio simultaneously inflated their lifejackets.

The Sydney event was presided over by New South Wales Minister for Ports and Waterways Paul McLeay and Australian sailor Jessica Watson, who recently became the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted, around the world at the age of 16.

The largest boat show in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sydney International Boat Show used all of the Centre’s 30,000 square metres of exhibition hall space, while a further 226 boats were moored in Cockle Bay adjacent to the Centre, taking the show’s footprint to more than 65,000 square metres.

The Boating Industry Association of NSW said more than 73,000 visitors attended this year’s event.

A provisional world record of 415 inflated life jackets is set in the SCEC’s Ballroom Parkside Foyer